Feeling Empowered

There seems to be a pattern: laundromats haven't raised the prices of the washing machine all that much, but they double the prices of the dryers, and hope you don't notice it until it is too late. I was thinking about a commenter's suggestion to handwash clothes when I had surrendered to the laundromat, the other day.  

Modern virtue signaling, using WEF-approved methods.

One has to kill time somehow at the laundromat so I also surrendered to a fast food joint that I could walk to.  Entering the Wendy's I braced for sticker shock by telling myself that "it's your own fault for being here."  (In fact I have pretty much rubbed fast food and coffee shops out of my life.)

Finally a female employee (I think) walked up to the counter and asked if I had used the kiosk, which is basically a giant smartphone where you can wrestle with stepping through the menu system.  Once you get good at it, there will be a software upgrade of the system so you can relearn a bunch of steps just to order a stupid hamburger.

She appeared to cringe before me.  I think other old folks have chewed her out in the past, and she has learned to dread old folks.  But I put on my best fake smile and thanked her.  And walked out.

It felt so good!  I wonder how many consumers stridently refuse to buy something as if their opinion mattered.